Iacta die est!!!

I called the elementary school down the street this morning and told them that Ike would not be returning.

Ooo. That was a very scary move.

But a necessary one.

But still, pretty scary. I'm walking the weirdos path.

Not that this is the first time, but still....

So, how did the first week of Homeschooling go anyway?

Overall, quite well.

The Good:
Ike listened.
Ike was open to taking instruction from me
Ike followed instructions
We had fun
Pretty art was made
Ike seemed to get the idea of the how something was to be done
Transition songs rock
Using my helper of the day to get things done (set up and clean up)

The Bad:
When one gets hyper, they all get hyper
I'm still getting too frustrated
Its hard getting Ike to focus with the girls around distracting him
Ike tries to instruct the girls

Yea! No "The Ugly"!

The Needs Improvement (now this we have)
Snack trays made before people get up
Premixing paint and getting paper ripped out of pads before people get up in the morning
Getting all supplies out on counter before starting circle time
Circle Time
The sink must be empty and clean after breakfast on Painting day. I need the sink empty to soak the paper, nothing interrupts the flow like having to stop and empty the sink of dishes.

Brief Mention of next week's plan:
Block Crayon drawing (more involved plan before the end of the weekend)

It would be easy to get totally down on myself and say "I couldn't get through my circle time plan, I couldn't get Ike to do mental math on the walk, etc, etc" and get very discouraged. But I'm remembering that this is new, it will take baby steps to teach the kids the difference between normal being at home time & school time (although its cute that Gwen wants to call me Teacher). And I'm still figuring all this out. But after this week, I'm thinking its going to be a great school year.

Assuming I get enough sleep.

Go Me!

So last night I was revisiting my child as a plant meditation (results? Not good) and ended up asking the Universe what can I do to get control of my anger and impatience. The Universe spoke clearly. Get more sleep. Take better care of yourself.

With that fairly clear message I realized I'm starting to walk down that well traveled path to exhaustion, burnout, self inflicted martyrdom, depression and suicidal urges. (And while journaling about it, I realized. "Hey! There's a hole in the path, I don't wanna jump in there again, it sucks! I'm walking around it!) So I thought about it, and meditated on what might I ask someone, anyone to do for me to make life easier on me. And I realized that my hardest day of the week, the one where I'm guaranteed to totally lose my temper and ending up saying and doing things to Ike I regret...is the night when Joe goes to Tae kwon do classes after work instead of coming home.

I didn't want to ask him to give that up. Its his way of getting exercise (something we all need) and a great way for him to de-stress. The man works hard, he deserves some time to himself. Then the Universe slapped me upside the head and said "Ask anyway."

So I screwed up my courage and told him what I was thinking/feeling.

Wonderful man readily agreed to give up his weekday night classes. We'll revisit the topic again in 2 months when the next session starts.
 
Considering what a good relationship we have, it was a lot harder for me to ask for this particular type of help than I thought it would be. Asking him to do the laundry? Big deal, but asking for serious help that impinges on his life and time? That takes more courage. I hate admitting I need it. I still feel like I'm supposed to do it all.

I think I'm slowly realizing I can't. And that's okay.

I'm actually proud of myself. I chose to not walk that path again. I recognized the pitfall, and decided to walk around it. How cool is that?

(and yes I see the irony of still being up at 10:15)